Virtual Machine Custom Configuration Parameters

You can use virtual machine custom configuration parameters as baseline settings when you create a virtual machine for remote desktop deployment.

You can change certain settings when you use View Administrator to deploy desktop pools from the virtual machine.

Table 1. Custom Configuration Parameters

Parameter

Description and Recommendations

Name and Location

The name and location of the virtual machine.

If you plan to use the virtual machine as a template, assign a generic name. The location can be any folder within your datacenter inventory.

Host/Cluster

The ESXi server or cluster of server resources that will run the virtual machine.

If you plan to use the virtual machine as a template, the location of the initial virtual machine does not necessarily specify where future virtual machines created from template will reside.

Resource Pool

If the physical ESXi server resources are divided into resource pools, you can assign them to the virtual machine.

Datastore

The location of files associated with the virtual machine.

Hardware Machine Version

The hardware machine version that is available depends on the ESXi version you are running. As a best practice, select the latest available hardware machine version, which provides the greatest virtual machine functionality. Certain View features require minimum hardware machine versions.

Guest Operating System

The type of operating system that you will install in the virtual machine.

CPUs

The number of virtual processors in the virtual machine.

For most guest operating systems, a single processor is sufficient.

Memory

The amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine.

In most cases, 512MB is sufficient.

Network

The number of virtual network adapters (NICs) in the virtual machine.

One NIC is usually sufficient. The network name should be consistent across virtual infrastructures. An incorrect network name in a template can cause failures during the instance customization phases.

For Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 7 guest operating systems, you should specify the LSI Logic adapter. The LSI Logic adapter has improved performance and works better with generic SCSI devices.

LSI Logic SAS is available only for virtual machines with hardware version 7 and later.

Select a Disk

The disk to use with the virtual machine.

Create a new virtual disk based on the amount of local storage that you decide to allocate to each user. Allow enough storage space for the OS installation, patches, and locally installed applications.

To reduce the need for disk space and management of local data, you should store the user's information, profile, and documents on network shares rather than on a local disk.